To toll or not to toll?

So the good people of Gauteng are up in arms against e-tolls. They put forward a whole bunch of convincing arguments against tolling: We already pay for the roads we drive on; we pay some of the highest taxes in the world; the whole system has been designed to benefit the companies that will operate the tolls; our public transport system is not up to scratch – the government must sort out public transport first, and only later on look at expensive options such as tolling - etc. etc.  Fair arguments all these are.

The argument for tolling!

To play devil’s advocate, let us for a minute look at the merits of tolling. A theory goes that the only effective solution to tackling traffic congestions is if people are charged for driving. You see, drivers hardly ever consider the negative externality that their driving creates for other drivers. If municipalities simply build new roads to tackle traffic congestions, cars will emerge to take up the extra space available. Even though there might be extra space available in the beginning, over time the new lanes get clogged up. So building additional roads is hardly the solution. It makes sense when you get to think about it.

Now you may well ask, what is the situation internationally? It turns out we are fairly young in the big scheme of things in the world. We are latter-day comers. Cities the world over have wrestled with problems of traffic congestions long before we boarded our gravy train. New York City is a case in point. Paris in France. And London too. Beautiful cities all of them. But the common thread is that they charge for driving on roads in the city. Whether it’s through variable charging where toll rates are cheaper during off-peak times and more expensive during peak times, or whether it’s through charging a flat rate throughout the day, tolls have been shown to be effective in discouraging driving. We would do well to learn from other cities that have faced this problem before. Reinventing the wheel would sure be a backward thing to do.

Government should make it expensive for people to drive, and cheaper to hop on a bus, or a taxi, or whatever reasonable public transport options that are in place.  Or better still, government should look to give people an incentive not to drive. If it’s much cheaper and more convenient to catch a cab or a coach into town, who in their right minds would insist on driving their petrol-guzzling SUVs into town (and get stuck in traffic while at it)? The only challenge is in making sure that feasible and reasonable alternatives exist, which is perhaps where we should be channelling our energies.

The true cost of traffic

How many skilled people waste hours every day commuting to work?  For those doing daily commutes between suburbs and offices wasting an average of 1:30 minutes every day, that alone could amount to millions of Rands in wasted time. If you factor in the running costs of the vehicles and wear and tear, you’re already looking at hundreds of millions. Bear in mind we haven’t factored the costs of accidents and emotional strain. If you count all those things in, the true costs could easily escape to billions. This for a medium-income country saddled with challenges of meeting basic needs for the vast majority of its citizens.

So where to for GP?

Now that the Prez has effectively given tolling the green light, there is no two ways about it. Get yourself an e-tag and get ready for the future. I’m yet to hear of anyone who enjoys paying taxes, but we all pay taxes all the same. Same thing with tolls. I’d rather we fight for fairer pricing of the tolls. Or support modern public transport options such as BRT systems. But I pray, not fight against tolling. This may well be the only solution to our dreaded traffic nightmare. And that sure is a drain on our economy.